Summary
Text: Tragedy Play
Author: William Shakespeare
Themes: ambition, fate, deception, treachery
Find definitions for the following words:
ambition: _____________________________________________________________
fate: _________________________________________________________________
deception: ____________________________________________________________
treachery: ____________________________________________________________
This drama is a tragedy play by William Shakespeare. The themes in the
play include ambition, fate, deception and treachery.
Three witches decide to confront the great Scottish general Macbeth on his
victorious return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The Scottish king,
Duncan, decides that he will give the title of the disloyal Cawdor on the heroic
Macbeth. Macbeth and another General called Banquo come across the three
witches. The witches predict that he will one day become king and that Banquo
will also have family that will be in the throne. When Macbeth tells his wife about
it, she persuades him to kill the king right away. So, he murders Duncan with the
help of his wife who spread over the blood of Duncan on the daggers (knives or
swords) of the sleeping guards. A nobleman called Macduff discovers the body.
Macbeth then kills the guards saying that their daggers with Duncan's blood are
proof that they committed the murder. So Macbeth becomes king. In his ambition
to continue to be king, he then kills Banquo but his son Fleance escapes. In front
of his nobility guests, that night the bloodied ghost of Banquo appears to
Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's conscience now begins to torture her and she imagines
that she can see her hands covered with blood. Then, she commits suicide. On
the battlefield, the English forces raised by Malcom, the prince, fight against
Macbeth and his forces. Macduff kills Macbeth and so Malcolm, Duncan’s son,
becomes king.
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Comprehension Questions:
1. What kind of play is Macbeth?
2. What themes are illustrated in the play?
3. Why are there three witches in the play? What’s their purpose?
4. Who is Macbeth?
5. Who is Duncan?
6. Who is Banquo?
7. What do the witches predict to Macbeth and Banquo?
8. What do Macbeth and his wife decide to do?
9. What happens after King Duncan is killed?
10. Why does Macbeth continue to kill after he becomes king?
11. What is “conscience”? What happens to Lady Macbeth because of her conscience?
12. Who is Malcom and what does he do?
13. Who is Macduff and what does he do?
14. How does Macbeth end in this play?
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